Valence Covenant

Youth for Christ
The Valence Covenant
ODS Meeting
Valence, France

We, the representatives of Youth for Christ, make covenant this day, the fifteenth day of June in the year two thousand and one, to:

• Make prayer and the Word of God the foundation of our movement.
• Shift from mistrust to trust.
• View every part as significant; as one part suffers, every part suffers; as one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.
• Commit to foster a generous spirit and to give sacrificially.
• Yield personal rights for the sake of the whole.
• Forbid the past to dictate the future.
• Change our language of negativism to one of faith.
• Move from isolation and fragmentation to unity.
• Embrace the principles of federalism, though, in reality, a theocracy.

O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love with all who love and obey His commands, we ask, this day and the days to follow, that we be brought to complete unity so that the world will know that You have sent us. We choose to live in harmony with one another, putting off falsehood and speaking truthfully, being sympathetic, loving each other, being compassionate and humble, not repaying evil with evil or insult with insult but with blessing. We choose to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before our God. We will seek peace and pursue it. Above all, we will love each other deeply for love covers over a multitude of sin.

Father, we beseech You to pour out upon us the spirit of supplication and grace. Make us a people of prayer, a people of faith, a people of Your Word. Create in us a new spirit, one which prefers the other above oneself, one who yields personal rights for the sake of the whole, one who turns from the mistrust of the past to a future of trust, always forbidding the past to dictate the future, one whose language is changed from negativism to faith, one who is done with isolationism and fragmentation, choosing unity above all else, one who fosters a generous spirit before asking another to be generous, one who understands the order of the work of God–God first, we second, working together.